Miriam Clancy's captivating, exquisitely crafted LP Black Heart drops on Friday, 3 February 

Listen to Black Heart

         "What carries the album are her vocal power and
           range, a potent sincerity and its broad palette."
           -  Graham Reid, NZ Listener

From immersing herself in NYC, followed by a shift to the depths of rural Pennsylvania, Aotearoa's Miriam Clancy has curated a solid lineup of talented musicians that feature on her new record Black Heart – a melodic Gen X explosion of heart, rage and release reminiscent of the great female artists at the fore of 90’s alt-music and the era’s definitive sonic aesthetic.

Black Heart is a long time in the making, a conglomerate of intensely personal stories of family history, of longing, of desire, and of shattered dreams. This album is a reckoning, into which Miriam breathes life and texture. Miriam's characters come to life through her deft storytelling; Miriam's beckoning vocals envelop and elevate the listener to each narrative of eleven different histories, where gallows humour and ethereal romance frame the otherwise heavy themes of death, suicide, addiction and beginnings/endings.

Miriam says, “This album is a tsunami, a spiritual purge – smashing out my big feelings with an insight that growing up too soon has gifted me. Some of these songs are staring right at my childhood trauma, so it’s a vulnerable and awkward space, which is a bit freaky. I had to do it for myself, but hopefully it might help others in a similar situation past/present not to feel freakishly alone,” notes Miriam. “It’s also calling out the dependency most of us have with connectivity, fomo and being overwhelmed with too much info, being too accessible by our own compulsive hand and laying ourselves to waste. It’s handy and beautiful but we are running straight into the sun and can’t help it. I can’t help it either. We are all going down together!”

Black Heart captures the brilliance of Miriam and her telepathic band featuring Jeremy McDonald, Will Graefe and Mike Riddleberger as they move through intricate clouds of Clannad-esque guitars and vocals, which turn to sparse folk-rock deep cuts twisting into fleeting moments of Roxy Music influenced art-pop, and out again via a grand piano apocalypse. And then there’s Miriam’s angelic voice pulling it all together and tearing it apart with pivotal moments drawn from her indie-folk beginnings.
 

Black Heart credits:

Recorded at Mason Jar Studios, Brooklyn NY.

Miriam Clancy: Vocals, Synth + Piano

Will Graefe: Electric Guitars

Jeremy McDonald: Beats, Sub, Bass + Juno

Mike Riddleberger: Drums

Produced by Jeremy McDonald + Miriam Clancy 

Engineered by Jeremy McDonald at Mason Jar Studios in Brooklyn, New York

Mixed By Nick Krill

Mastered by Alex DeTurk


Black Heart is released on Friday 3 February in stores and across all streaming platforms.

SINGLES

Kamikaze Angels
Released 28 October, 2022

Miriam Clancy's first release in three years is a soaring, rousing song, a nod to the 90s through a lens of 2020 clarity. The song oscillates between loud-quiet-loud moments, the chorus rising to a hook, a powerful sing-at-the-top-of-your-lungs moment. Miriam says, "The chorus sings itself, propelling up to a maximum finish. And my beautiful wildling kids sing the last line with me which allows a fleeting childlike approach to the world, as it's always better seen that way. I love this song, it feels naked and alive, primal. And unafraid like pulling a thorn from an angry lion's paw."

She says "I was thinking about the origins and the path of a terrorist and their co-option, corrupted and weaponized for a cause, which seemed to be usually through an immense vacuum of need for meaningful connection and to be seen, heard, to belong. From one human grappling with an untethered feeling of emotional exile to another who may be weighing up their paths, I wrote this song for you."

Head Like a Hole
Released 16 November, 2022

Head Like a Hole is a lilting, listing 90s throwback track depicting a love/hate relationship with technology and its blurred lines in our everyday interaction. Miriam's voice expresses a hushed urgency, a lilting and listing musical thread, leading to the track's crescendo with a choir, oscillating synth and a scorching guitar solo.

Head Like A Hole focuses on our co-dependency with the internet, its knobby fingers needling into all aspects of our lives: the good news, bad news, validation, cancelling, discrimination and faux-friending. Miriam says, "How can we hate this? The great library in the sky! But it's so good though! We are entranced yet anxious targets zooming around the internet and it's beautiful and connected, addictive and thrilling! I love it, can't look away. At the same time, it's a great vacuum of space that our cyber-dimensional lives are making in our minds, constantly claiming more real estate till we have no room left to recalibrate and regulate - only react."

Velveteen
Released 14 December, 2022

"I wrote this song crying into the keys of an old jazz-bar piano in our apartment in Queens, far away from Aotearoa New Zealand as I began a reckoning with my childhood abuse, neglect and mishandling by the authorities. All while attempting to throw water on the wildfire of justified anger burning in me.

"It is a tightrope walk, leaning on a mystery shoulder of faith just to tame that hunt for vengeance and to try to find a way through the valley. I had on loop the refrain "I'm living in splendor, I'm living in velveteen" ... hoping to believe it, fake it til I make it. I wrote this into Velveteen and my own manifesto that I may have been let down and abandoned - but I won't do that, I will break the chain. I might be a human torch blazing an endless raging flame, but I will break the chain. 

About Miriam Clancy:

Born in New Zealand into a family of musicians, writing her first song at age nine and fronting bands by age 17 Miriam was caught between the shadow of local DIY post-punk and imported American pop but ended up being mentored by old-school established Māori musicians who were rich in R&B, Motown soul and heavy in show business professionalism. With them she learned to sing for diverse crowds in the often wild pubs of New Zealand. From there Miriam moved into full-time session work, taking her from clubs in Wellington & Auckland to Southeast Asia before swapping the security of the professional vocalist life to become an indie artist, performing on her own terms. She began to deconstruct her approach to music and follow the thread of melodies that had begun welling up while she was alone in her room, and at 21 Miriam started again, just herself and a guitar, in dive bars singing the songs she couldn't help but write.
 
After passing on a local record deal Miriam headed to Los Angeles, where a 2005 season led to the NZ release of her debut album Lucky One. It, along with sophomore album Magnetic, was met with critical acclaim and a stack of five-star and best-of-year reviews as she headlined national tours and toured in support of Wilco, Ron Sexsmith and Mark Lanegan. She signed to Mushroom Group’s publishing wing and was declared “A Voice to Move Mountains” garnering APRA Silver Scroll songwriting and NZ Music Award nominations and a solid underground following. Shifting camp from Aotearoa to New York City brought forth her first US release, 2019's Astronomy, crafted over a couple of years between Great Barrier Island and New York City, with producer Chris Coady at the helm. Again, the critics waxed effusive - "Astronomy is not only well thought out but planned and executed with the brilliance and captivation of a true artist” Ryan Martin - Jammerzine. "Miriam Clancy and her dream theater aesthetic will transport you - with deep cut bass, drum grooves and dreamy synths - a blend of post punk, 80's new wave, goth, baroque pop and magic itself" Robb Dunker - American Pancake.
 
Fleeing from the hustle of NYC to the solace in the valley of Pennsylvania’s Appalachian mountains brought about a burst of life, and when UK production on a new project with producer Mike Hedges was delayed by the pandemic, Miriam came up for air closer to home and fell into a perfect working match with musician and producer Jeremy McDonald in Brooklyn’s Mason Jar Studio. Pulling in talented friends Will Graefe and Mike Riddleberger, the four created a delicate rock circle that swells and disappears around Miriam's voice, along with additional drums and vocals by Sean Mullins and Welcome Wagons’ Vito Aiuto. In Miriam’s own words, "This is the most naturally occurring and quickest album I have made - everything felt right."

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Miriam Clancy's exceptional new album Black Heart is out Friday 3 February 2023.